Fabric for curtains or the like



Aug. 2, 1938. R. 1. BOSWORTH 2,125,422

7 FABRIC FOR CURTAINS OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 23, 1957 IN V EN TOR.

@059 W6// K Rosa 017%- A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 2, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Guyan Mills, Inc., Island a corporation of Rhode Application November 23, 1937, Serial No. 176,053

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a fabric more particularly of the character used for window curtains for household and other uses; and has for one of its objects the provision of a material which will "5 make unnecessary the doubling over of the edge to provide a hem, the hem effect being provided in the loom as the fabric is woven.

Another object of the inventionis the provision of a fabric for curtain use which will be of a single thickness throughout its width and thus may be more readily packaged in a neat bundle than curtain material which has a double thickness hem as is now supplied on the market.

Another object of the invention is the method by which a fabric having a hem effect along its edge may be provided in fewer operations than has heretofore been necessary for the provision of a fabric of this character.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View of curtains suspended from a rod or the like;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of one of the curtains alone;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental portion of one of the curtains;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View through the curtain of the portion shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the fabric packaged in bulk form.

Curtain material usually consists of open work formation usually of somewhat lacy effect formed by What is known as a leno-weave, the threads being sufficiently spaced apart so that the fabric does not materially obstruct the vision. A curtain fabric of this character is usually provided with a selvage along one edge which is stripped from the fabric and the fabric is then hemmed with this stripped edge doubled at the time of hemming so that the marginal edge of the curtain has the appearance of being doubled back or in other words there are twice as many Warp threads in the doubled back portion; and there are four times as many warp threads in the turned under stripped selvage edge as in the main body portion of the fabric. Curtain material today is forrned in the running length by a rotary knife cutting or stripping the selvages from the cloth and thereafter an operator sewing by machine the hem with the doubled in raw edge, and such running length or piece goods are usually folded so that two such doubled edges come together and is then rolled up in bolt form to be delivered to the market. It thus will be apparent that in bolts so folded one end of the bolt will be much thicker in material than the other end and a bolt of uneven appearance and clumsy to handle and roll will be provided. In order to avoid the operations of sewing a hem on the cultain fabric material I have arranged the warp threads at the marginal edge twice as dense per unit of measure as in the main body of the fabric and have arranged the threads between this marginal edge and the body of the fabric in a density of another multiple of the number of threads and then by weaving I have bound all of these threads together in this relation so that when the fabric emerges from the loom a hemmed effect will be provided and yet the fabric will be all of the same thickness thus eliminating the operations of stripping the selvage, doubling back the fabric upon itself with its stripped edge turned in and sewing. Also, I

provide an edge which is sufficiently strong to eliminate the formation of a separate selvage which has to be stripped off and yet I provide a fabric which has a hem effect which is that which is desired in decoration for a curtain along both vertical edges thereof, and thus I provide a fabric which may be readily folded and rolled into bolt form without a bulky volume at one end and a scarce volume at the other end which gives an uneven bolt; and the following is a more detailed description of the present embodiment of this invention, illustrating the preferred means by which these advantageous results may be accomplished:

With reference to the drawing, 10 designates one curtain and H its companion curtain which are hung upon a rod 12 by reason of the looped formation l3 at the upper edge of each curtain. There is also usually provided a looped hem by means of the sewing lines l4 and I5 therein with the rod l2 extending through the pocket 16, leaving for a ruffle the pocket ll above the sewing line It. At the bottom a hem is also provided as at l8 by a sewing line l9. These hems are. necessarily individually provided in curtains for each particular window because of the variation in length of different windows. Marginal edges 20 and 2| are also formed at the outer and inner vertical edges of the curtains l0 and II usually by similarly hemming these vertical edges. However, this invention eliminates this sewing and doubling for the hem effect at 20, 2 I.

The warp threads 22 in the main body portion 23 of the fabric are spaced apart usually to give a rather open work appearance and may either exist singly or in groups of two threads which are intermeshed with the weft threads 24 by a regular harness motion. In groups of two movement of the warps provide a leno-weave in order that the construction will maintain a meshwork of a desired characteristic. This leno-weave is one of known construction and is not attempted to be shown in this drawing which is diagramrnatic.

In order to provide a more dense appearance to the marginal edges such as 20 or 2| of the fabric, I have provided the warp threads now designated 25 much closer together so that in the marginal edge 29, also designated by the dimension a, there will be twice as many warp threads as exist in the body portion 23, also designated cl, which will give to the fabric the appearance of being doubled back upon itself, while in order to provide for the appearance of the turned-in raw edge which usually exists in curtains of this character, I have provided the warp threads in the area 26, also designated 12, in still closer relation forming a far more dense area which will be in a number twice that of the number of threads per lateral unit of dimension in the area 2!], or a, or four times the number of warp threads in the body of the fabric 23, or so that this relationship in appearance which is caused by the density of the warp threads: at this marginal area will be provided.

By this relationship the fabric is all the same thickness, as will be clearly apparent from Fig. 4, and when folded or doubled upon itself at its center to provide plies 21 and 28 with the folded edge 29 the two plies will be the same thickness throughout their width and will form a uniform package when rolled about the core 35 into bolt form, as shown at 3|. Bolt form of double thickness is the manner in which curtain material is hem along its vertical edges providing a very bulky package.

Further, a better product is provided in that a curtain which is formed as above described will hang more evenly, will come off the loom ready to be finished and packaged into bolts without the necessity of stripping the selvages on each edge and sewing a hem thereon, which is the usual procedure now gone through in presenting a material of this character to the market. 7

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A window curtain fabric of a single thickness comprising substantially parallel warp and weft threads extending generally at right angles to each other, the parallel threads along one marginal edge being more closely arranged than in the main body thereof, and a. group of even more closely arranged threads between said marginal edge and the body of the fabric whereby to simulate a folded and hemmed edge.

2. A window curtain fabric of a single thickness comprising generally right angular parallel warp and weft threads in wide mesh formation in the body of the fabric, a marginal edge having the parallel threads of twice the number of threads per inch of the body of the fabric and another group of threads between the body and the marginal edge of more than twice the number of threads per inch of the body whereby to simulate a folded and hemmed edge.

ROSWELL I. BOSWORTH. 

